Across the country, we are seeing serious threats leveled at those who seek to expose animal abuse and food-safety concerns. The threats come in the form of anti-whistleblower legislation, dubbed “ag-gag” bills, introduced by big agribusiness under the guise of preventing animal cruelty. This disturbing trend reached California this year in the form of an ag-gag bill introduced by the California Cattlemen’s Association (yes, we’re serious).

The goal of this bill, A.B. 343, was to thwart investigations at factory farms, slaughterhouses and other agricultural facilities by requiring that evidence of abuse be turned over to law enforcement within a certain time frame. Fortunately, the ASPCA and a diverse coalition of opponents worked together to educate the Legislature about the dangers posed by this legislation, ultimately convincing sponsor Assemblyman Jim Patterson that he could not get enough support for his bill, causing him to withdraw it from consideration.

This is a major victory—as the nation’s top agricultural state, California is home to enormous dairy, egg, beef and poultry industries. A 2008 investigation of a dairy cow slaughter plant in Chino prompted the largest meat recall in U.S. history, identified fraud within the federal government’s school lunch program and resulted in criminal convictions for animal cruelty. A.B. 343 would have made it impossible to conduct the sort of thorough investigation in California that led to arrests and prosecutions in Chino. We applaud and thank our California Advocates and local humane groups for their support in fighting this bill!

Where does your state stand on anti-whistleblower legislation? Find out here, and be sure to join the ASPCA Advocacy Brigade so you can take action on current animal-related bills in your state!